Nevermore
by Azurite
Summary: I have NO idea why I rated this PG... it's a one-hour challenge from the SMRFF relating to Poe's 'infamous' poem, "The Raven".


Nevermore  
A Sailormoon Fanfiction  
By Azurite [azurite_moon@yahoo.com]  
I tend to go by Andi or Meriellen5 in SMRFF chats.  
Look me up and AIM me (Meriellen5) sometime.   
It's "Azurite" on ASMR, SMRFF postings (though  
some of my onee-chans will call me baka-imouto)  
and Fanfiction.net. REVIEW me! Wahoo!  
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I'm so so so so bad. This is a one hour challenge  
I helped create in the SMRFF chatbox. 09162001.   
I have a bad feeling I'll be the only one writing...  
anyways, it's now 10:07 PST, and I have 53 minutes  
left...  
The requirement is to base the fic off of, or use  
the line "Quoth the raven, nevermore." Poe copyrighted.  
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As you all know, Sailormoon is not mine. Waah. -_-;  
Neither is the Raven. But the idea is mine. So  
nyaaah! =P This is the first remotely dark fic  
I have ever done. At least I *think* so...   
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GET ON WITH IT!   
Okay, Okay, sheesh...  
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This, or what follows, is the actual fic. SHOCK!  
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Mamoru Chiba sat alone. It was customary; he  
was that sort of person. The alone type. His very  
personality drove people away from him, though  
his physique screamed otherwise.   
Anyway.   
  
It was a dark and stormy-- well, actually, no  
it wasn't. It was a perfectly clear, if not warm night.  
But being the sole occupant of a rather vast condo  
with the electricity being out did things to your head.  
Mamoru Chiba sat in front of a blazing fireplace,  
book in hand.   
  
That's when it started.   
  
KAW-KAW  
  
"Phobos? Deimos?" Mamoru strode to the window and flung it   
open. The creature that flew in was not one of his friend Rei's  
pet crows, but a smaller, similar creature.   
A raven.   
  
It stared at Mamoru Chiba with oily black eyes, blinking  
randomly, as birds do.   
Mamoru didn't like birds. Dogs were okay; cats were even  
better. But birds? They were vicious, unpredictable, and one was  
just *sitting* on his mantlepiece, staring at him.   
  
Then it opened its beak and Mamoru cringed, stepping back.  
The fire roared with the open window, and, to disguise the  
trembling of his legs, Mamoru briskly strode to the window  
and shut it. He realized his fatal mistake as the raven's  
reflection stared back at him in the window.   
It had alighted from his mantlepiece to the bust of Poe that  
Mamoru had sitting on his end table.   
  
It cocked its head from left to right, and seemed to *smile*  
almost viciously. Mamoru shivered.   
The bird's attention was diverted as a rapping came at the  
door to Mamoru's chambers.   
  
"Mamooooo-chaaaan..." The voice came, eerily. Mamoru looked to   
the empty area of the room, expecting a black cat to pop out from  
the shadows and start babbling to him as well.   
  
Mamoru tried to ignore the bird, the rapping at his chamber  
doors, the wind banging on the windows, the branches scraping against  
the side of the house... and that damned voice! It was howling his  
name! And it sounded so much like... like...  
  
Switching to instinct, he began murmuring something under his  
breath. The raven hopped closer to Mamoru to hear him, cocking its  
head to listen. Mamoru pinched his eyes shut to avoid looking  
at the inky blackness of the raven's eyes.   
  
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and   
weary..."  
  
Mamoru then opened his eyes and dared to look at the calendar.  
December 14th. His term paper was due tomorrow. Darn it all.   
  
The rapping on his door started again, with a more hyperactive  
and furious pattern to it. Mamoru stared, wondering what he should do.   
  
"Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore..."   
  
It was a history term paper. Mamoru always told everyone he  
liked school, and didn't hate any subjects, but history was just  
so depressing. Sure, you could learn from it, but for someone who  
barely had fragments of a past, history from some 1000 years ago  
was not exactly entertaining to learn about.   
  
"While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,  
as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."  
  
How oddly coincidental that such an old work of prose could  
match the current situation. Mamoru was having difficulty remembering  
the rest of the gaijin poem, but he knew it rhymed. All he had to do  
was think of what rhymed with 'door' in English.   
  
What a bore. His history had almost put him to sleep, and  
the hot wind blowing outside all night was nauseating. The fact  
that it was a blackout made it all the worse.   
  
"'Tis some visitor,' I muttered 'tapping at my chamber door--  
only this and nothing more.'"  
  
Mamoru ignored the incessant rapping as he found a sundry  
of things to do, ignoring the raven, the wind, and the knocking.  
His history homework, too.   
  
"Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, and  
each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor."  
  
Like something out of a cheesy spook movie, the fire slowly  
died down. That was right-- it was December. In Tokyo. There were  
no hot winds outside. It was freezing cold out there! What was he  
thinking?! All that reading must have warped his perception of  
time.   
  
It was then that the door burst open. There stood a soaking  
wet, and rather angry looking...  
  
"Leno--"  
"Mamo-chan, what have I told you about locking the downstairs  
door! You KNOW my key is broken!" Usagi fumed, tossing the groceries  
on the kitchen table.   
  
"Why are all the lights out?" Usagi asked, flicking various  
lights on.   
Mamoru blinked suddenly.   
"Why is Phobos out of her cage? She may be well-trained, but  
Rei-chan will flame you if Phobos flies away and gets sick in  
this weather," Usagi continued, motioning to the snow drifting  
outside.   
  
"Have you been reading Poe again, Endy?" Usagi asked, angrily  
tapping her stocking-d foot on the kitchen floor.   
Mamoru sweatdropped.   
  
"Gomen ne, Usako. I just got too into it."   
"I'll say. Now what do you say about reading Poe before  
bedtime, Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked, smiling at him in a motherly  
way.   
"'Nevermore,' Usa, 'Nevermore.'"  
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Okay, that was weird. Very weird. azurite_moon@yahoo.com  
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